Dinelia Rosa, PhD, is the first Latina to serve as president of the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA). Prior to becoming president for the 2016 term, she helped charter the Division of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at the New York State Psychological Association, and was honored with the NYSPA Service Award.
Rosa earned her doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Adelphi University. She is currently the director of the Dean Hope Health Center for Educational and Psychological Services at the Teacher’s College in Columbia University. Her research centers on youth in both school and clinical settings, grief and emergency response. In 2002, she was part of the Sesame Street Workshop Advisory Committee that produced the video series, "Helping You Help Children Cope with Stress” in response to the 9/11 attacks. Prior to her current position at Columbia, Rosa aided in the establishment of the health psychology rotation in the Bellevue-New York University (NYU) Internship Program. At NYU, she also led support groups for patients suffering from cardiac conditions.
She has shown a strong commitment to the American Psychological Association throughout her career. Rosa was the former president and longtime member of APA’s Division of State, Provincial and Territorial Affairs. She is now also a member of the APA Board of Professional Affairs. She was awarded a grant by the APA’s Committee of Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training to tackle the important issues of linguistic minorities and organize clinical and counseling graduate students able to speak Spanish and interested in linguistic minorities. Rosa was recently appointed by APA President Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD, to be part of a workgroup of psychologists assigned to expand APA’s advocacy capacity. The group’s goal is to devise and implement a competent governance structure.
Rosa co-wrote a widely used graduate psychology textbook, "Grief Therapy with Latinos: Integrating Culture for Clinicians," with psychologist Carmen Vazquez, PhD. The book provides a model that instructs clinicians and counselors on how to integrate Latinx emotional manifestations of grief, and pertinent Latinx values such as spirituality, into their traditional psychotherapy practices. Rosa was recently invited to become an Associate Editor for "The New Encyclopedia on Death and Dying" by MacMillan Publishers, another testament to her expertise in grief work.
Active in her local community, Rosa has volunteered for several years with a nonprofit called Latino Share, where she assists with services for women affected by ovarian and breast cancer. She collaborated with Latino Share for the Novela Project, a program that spreads awareness about breast cancer in culturally informed ways. Rosa and is also involved with faith-based service organizations.